The Pico RTA (Clone)

The Pico RTA, it’s tiny, tasty, hard to get, and expensive. At least it was til now, finally a decent clone that can give you a taste for this popular high end atty. As always, try the clone, if you love it, buy the authentic (if you can). Let’s find out if it’s as good as all the hype that surrounds it…

Mouth to lung attys are something you start with and then seem to go back to once you have explored all the various types/styles of attys out there. The one thing that mouth to lung attys have in common is they usually produce great flavour, or at least the good ones do. We took notice when the Pico hit the scene but frankly, we were scared away by the cost. The authentic starts at a decent $140 but quickly raises with a add-on style pricing scheme (Drip tip, CLR coil adapter, Spare Tanks, Micro Chamber, etc..) to more like $195 or more! If you are like us, we are making the transition back to enjoying mouth to lung attys so that type of investment feels crazy if you’re not sure you will like it. This is why clones can be rather helpful in letting you experiment with new styles of attys without forking out too much cash.

We found an awesome clone, it’s pretty much 1:1, all high quality materials (including 316 Stainless Steel) with fit & finish as good as the original. The design of the Pico has really surprised us. It doesn’t leak an ounce of juice and really it’s not that hard to build. The flavour and vapor quality are very enjoyable. The draw is right on the cusp of a restricted lung hit but it is definitely a mouth to lung.

Flavour is pretty dense thanks to the size of the atty. The vapor chamber is condensed and very close to your mouth giving you decently dense vapor too. We just can’t believe how smooth the airflow is and it never gurgles a bit. The geometry involved is very impressive, so well thought out, the perfect amount of back pressure to keep the juice flow under control.

Wicking is superb, as long as you don’t push the power too much it never dry hits. The perfectly horizontal wick must play a part, keeping it always fully saturated. It’s easy to setup, just pull the right tense through the coil, feed through the chamber and place in the channels, trim it to about 2cm past the centre chamber ring and you’re good.

The build is not bad at all. Many have complained of it being finicky and hard to secure. It’s not, sure the deck is small when removed, but with a little patience, it’s easy to work with. A 5-6 wrap, 26awg, 2mm, spaced coil does the job, coming it at 0.60 Ohms and run at 24-28W it’s a tasty, slightly warm vape. Make sure the coil height off the deck aligns with the wick channels or you may have some wicking issues. The only nit picky thing is having to secure the deck with the centre chamber ring to pre-heat the coil and then remove it again to wick, but you get used to it and coils last a long time (so do the wicks).

The extras that come with this kit are great. The Ultem Tank gives it a sexy look and the CLR adapter kit works great. Ego One CLR coils are underrated, and being able to put them on a tank so dope looking as this is a great option if you aren’t into building your own coils (of course CLR coils are rebuildable too). The flavour is almost as good, we find building your own with the vapor chamber is better, but you do get more juice in the tank, the CLR kit takes up much less space inside.

We get the hype, and it’s all true and well deserved. The Pico is one tight little package. It looks dope on just about any mod and the size makes it very portable. If you have been curious, now you can give it a go without spending a ton of cash or waiting on a list to buy one.